Our experiments demonstrate that morphine and haloperidol produce two distinct and contrasting behavioral states, which can be thought of as exaggerated, isolated, and simplified forms of organized adaptive behavioral states functioning as components of normal motivated behavior. Haloperidol catalepsy constitutes an organized state in which tonic reactions subserving the maintenance of stable static equilibrium prevail, at the expense of phasic locomotor reactions.

Brahmi Rasayan, an Ayurvedic preparation, was studied in mice and rats for its effects on the central nervous system at oral doses ranging between 1 and 30 g/kg. Observational screening in mice was carried out following a multiparametric check list. The test material was studied for its effect on pentobarbitone hypnosis, motor co-ordination, tail-withdrawal reaction time, electroshock, chemoconvulsions, haloperidol-induced catalepsy and conditioned avoidance response. The test material exhibited a sedative effect and significantly prolonged the hypnotic action of pentobarbitone.

The pharmacological actions of N-(2,6-dimethylphenyl)-8-pyrrolizidineacetamide hydrochloride hemihydrate (SUN 1165), a new antiarrhythmic agent, on the central nervous system were studied in various experimental animals as compared with those of disopyramide, mexiletine and lidocaine, and the following results were obtained. 1. Acute toxicity of SUN 1165 in mice was similar to that of mexiletine, and twice as potent as compared with that of disopyramide and lidocaine.

The effects of 1-[2-[bis (4-fluorophenyl)methoxy]ethyl]-4-(3- phenylpropyl) piperazine dihydrochloride (I-893) on the central nervous system were behaviorally and electroencephalographically investigated. Intraperitoneally injected I-893 (5-10 mg/kg) dose-dependently increased spontaneous motor activity in mice, but repeated injections did not affect the increase in the locomotor activity. In reserpinized mice, spontaneous motor activity was not increased by oral I-893.

By the method of forced immobilization the rabbits were brought into the state of "animal hypnosis" (immobilization reflex), and their ECoG was recorded, which was further processed on the computer. It was found that during hypnosis a functional interhemispheric brain asymmetry was developed in rabbits with activity predominance in the right hemisphere. The "animal hypnosis" is a phasic process: in the ECoG of the rabbit under hypnosis a regular alternation of delta and theta activity takes place.

The effects of essential oil of Croton zehntneri (Euphorbiaceae), orally administered were studied on behavioral parameters using rats and mice. The oil suspension did not modify pentobarbital induced-hypnosis, stereotypic behavior, catalepsy and amphetamine-induced hypermotility. The open-field behaviors were decreased and the minimal convulsant dose of pentylenetetrazole was increased.

In an attempt to elucidate the physiological basis of hypnosis, we investigated the changes of whole-brain and regional cerebral glucose metabolism, from a state of resting wakefulness to a hypnotized state with whole-body catalepsy, using positron emission tomography and the 2[18F]fluorodeoxyglucose method in 15 highly hypnotizable adults. Neither the random order of study conditions nor any of the other experimental factors had a measurable effect, and there was no statistically significant global activation or metabolic depression.